LAS CRUCES - The New Mexico State Aggies scoring slump continued for another game.

NMSU's women's basketball team made just 19 of 60 shot attempts on Thursday night (31 percent), knocking down 5 of 23 from 3-point territory (21 percent) and six of 10 from the free-throw line.

By the end of the contest, they lost, their sixth-straight defeat, 58-49 to the Texas State Bobcats.

"Most of them were open. Most of them were open shots," head coach Mark Trakh said following the game. "I should be embarrassed with the way they're running the offense and they should be embarrassed."

Texas State got the easier shot attempts for much of the night, driving to the basket aggressively to get more layups and free-throw attempts (shooting 9 of 17 from the charity stripe).

The Aggies, meanwhile, saw their shooting struggles continue.

Stefanie Gilbreath played every minute of the game and managed to put up 25 shots, making eight. For the other players, their confidence could have wavered, particularly as the game wore on. No other Aggie had double-digit shot attempts (Sasha Weber had nine) as the offense fell flat in the final 20 minutes of play.

"We shoot every day," Trakh said. "They're Division I basketball players. We gotta step up and make shots. I don't know what else to say."

While NMSU fell to 3-7 in Western Athletic Conference play, Texas State moved to 2-8, although the Bobcats looked better than such a record would indicate.

Advertisement

Diamond Ford - the conference's leading scorer - finished with 21 points, a player who took the ball to the hole well using her left hand.

Despite having a short bench - just three Bobcat reserves dressed for the game - Texas State had some athleticism and battled the Aggies for the second time this year (NMSU won in San Marcos 61-58 in early January).

Gilbreath led the Aggies with 22 points while Camila Rosen pulled down 11 rebounds (the Aggies had 40 rebounds total, Texas State 44).

NMSU will take the court again this Saturday in a 6:30 p.m. game against Texas-San Antonio. The game can be seen on AggieVision.

Teddy Feinberg can be reached at (575) 541-5455. Follow him on Twitter @TeddyFeinberg